The Lakers were eliminated from playoff contention by the Suns, and fittingly LeBron left before the game was over.
I am not sure if you can lay all this at the foot of Frank Vogel. It wasn’t his decision to bring in Russell Westbrook, who was a terrible fit for the team for most of the season.
Beyond that, LeBron, while still having the ability to play at a high level, can’t sustain it for an entire season.
Anthony Davis, who should be carrying the load as the #1 player on the team, is made of wet paper, so he can’t be depended on. It was a recipe for disaster. When you fill your team with vets, you better have perfect health, or this will be the outcome.
According to Bleacher Report, the Lakers have some new coaches in mind.
Doc Rivers, the Philadelphia 76ers’ head coach, is another active bench leader being mentioned by league personnel as a potential Lakers candidate. Rivers’ tenure in Philadelphia has also come into question of late, spurred by team president Daryl Morey’s deadline acquisition of James Harden and the mounting speculation that followed about a potential reunification with Harden’s former Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni.
As Marc Stein first reported, Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder is perhaps most often mentioned by league figures as a possible Vogel replacement. Multiple league figures contacted by B/R referenced the possibility that Lakers senior basketball adviser Kurt Rambis returns to the sidelines after several previous coaching stops in the league, including an interim stint as Los Angeles’ head coach.
Former Los Angeles head coach and current Warriors assistant Mike Brown, who hired Snyder for that 2011-12 campaign, is known to have interest in departing Golden State for another opportunity in a team’s first chair. The same is said for Steve Clifford, most recently the Magic’s head coach from 2018 to ‘21, who served as a Lakers assistant in 2012-13. It’s also widely believed that Los Angeles, as has been the franchise’s custom, will prioritize coaching candidates with past connections to the organization.
It doesn’t matter who the coach is the key will always be Anthony Davis.
LeBron is still great, but if he has to score 30 points a game to keep the Lakers competitive, his body just won’t be able to handle it.
Davis has to be the man, and if he isn’t, expect more seasons like the one the Lakers just endured.
Flip the pages for a video about the Lakers coaching search.